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April 4, 2011

Several faculty, students and staff at the Community College
of Rhode Island expressed opinions about a
proposal to install security cameras on CCRI’s campuses during an open forum last week.

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale led forums on each campus
that discussed the camera proposal as well as the findings of the CCRI 21st
Century Workforce Commission report, but most of the discussion in Warwick on
March 31 was about the camera proposal.

Di Pasquale said the idea was first introduced in a petition
that more than 100 students, staff and faculty signed at the Flanagan Campus in Lincoln.
They said they felt unsafe at school and asked for cameras to be installed
after an attempted sexual assault of a female student on campus in spring 2009.

Cameras also would be installed in Providence, prompted by
an incident in January 2010 in which armed gang members invaded the campus
looking for a particular student, who was not in class at the time.
Fortunately, they left without violence but campus security had to call
Providence Police to deal with the threat.

CCRI Acting Director of Security Richard Robinson said that,
while the presence of cameras would not have prevented these crimes, they could
have helped officers determine the culprits.

He said cameras also could be useful in helping officers
return stolen property, find hit-and-run drivers in the parking lots and
resolve disputes from automobile accidents.

Robinson said that, while officers on duty could watch the
video feeds in the campus police offices, there would not be an officer
watching at all times. Footage only would be reviewed if there was an incident.

Robinson said the cameras would not be placed in all
locations; they will only be in areas such as parking lots and hallways where
seclusion, particularly at night, makes a crime more likely to occur.

Installing cameras at the Providence and Lincoln campuses
would carry a one-time cost of $600,000, with additional money needed for
maintenance and upkeep over the years.

CCRI is the only college or university in Rhode Island that
does not use security cameras.

Several faculty members at the Knight Campus said they
sometimes feel unsafe, particularly at night and in isolated parts of the
megastructure, and want cameras to be installed at that campus as well.

Other faculty members said they thought that additional campus
police officers would be more effective than cameras in increasing security.

One student at the forum who works as a security guard at
the Providence Place Mall said that a combination of manned video surveillance
and additional officers is the best option.

Several other students were concerned about the cost of the
new system or about creating a culture of surveillance at CCRI. One said that a
stronger sense of community and better and more frequent communication from the
administration would help deter crime.

Di Pasquale said that the college cannot afford to hire more
officers at this time, and that their continued salary and benefits over the
years would be far more expensive than the security camera system.

Robinson said there are 21 campus police officers for CCRI’s
four campuses, down from 30, who work three shifts. “We haven’t increased our personnel but we’ve increased what
we need to do with those personnel,” he said.

College Police Officer Brian Burkesaid he is strongly in favor of security cameras to
assist the officers. “A camera is used for the protection of people [in a
location] when a person can’t constantly be there,” he said.

Burke said that cameras deter petty crime and help police
track down suspects after the fact. Their effectiveness is the reason why
cameras can be found in so many stores, campuses, parking garages and public
places, he said.

Di Pasquale said no decision has been reached about whether
to install security cameras, and further discussion will occur.

“This isn’t just about deciding ‘cameras or no cameras,’” he
said, “This is about making a plan for our security.”

The other primary topic of the open forums was to share the
recommendations of the CCRI 21st Century Workforce Commission report,
which can be seen in full on the president’s website.

Di Pasquale said the latest unemployment figures for Rhode
Island show about 70,000 people out of work, but some experts say that the
number is closer to 100,000.

As these people look for work, they will find that one-third
of all new jobs require at least an associate degree. To make matters worse,
only 21 out of 100 high school graduates will earn an associate degree or
higher, and the high school drop-out rate in Rhode Island is nearly 30 percent.
This creates a “skills gap” in which job-seekers lack the skills or education
that they need for employment.

To help alleviate unemployment and reduce this gap, the
report recommended that the state enact legislation to create a career pathway
system driven by industry needs. Di Pasquale said this legislation was passed and the college
has been working closely with Rhode Island businesses to train graduates for
specific jobs.

The other recommendations were to strengthen the state’s
capacity to increase the skill levels of its work force and encourage a culture
of innovation to meet employer needs. Di Pasquale said this means, in part,
reducing the bureaucracy of the state’s purchasing procedures.

Lastly, the commission said that all of its recommendations
must be funded in full to achieve their goals.

Some professors expressed concerns that by following the
letter of these recommendations too closely, CCRI will become too focused on
direct job skills and stray from pure academics.

Di Pasquale said that the college will not lose sight of its
academic strengths and continue to insist that all students graduate with a
strong liberal arts core, no matter their major.

He said that CCRI has maintained high enrollment during the
economic downturn in part by offering a quality, complete education at low
cost.

“We have weathered this storm well because we have held true
to our core,” he said.

“[The liberal
arts] help build who we are; they help build the educated person.”

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